


lock and key

by streetcat



Series: have your cake and eat it too [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/F, M/M, No Metaverse (Persona 5)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 23:45:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19936510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/streetcat/pseuds/streetcat
Summary: He’s unapproachable at best and an earful of biting remarks at worse, so maybe that’s why the smile from the transfer student sitting with Suzui a few aisles over and several desks forward throws him off so bad.





	lock and key

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first little snippet in hopefully a series of pieces from an au my friends and i brainstormed for hours last night and are now obsessed with. this particular bit takes place during first year at shujin, right at the beginning of the year. akira transferred in first year instead of second from homeschooling rather than because of shido, and he's sojiro's adopted son because we said so. endgame of this whole series is pegoryurita, though no yusuke in this fic rip. enjoy!

His classroom wasn’t his typical hangout spot for lunch. Usually, he sat outside with the rest of the team, barking laughter and friendly shoves all around. Today though, the rain beats against the roof of the school with reckless abandon, threatening to take away the ceiling just as it took away the sun. There is nowhere comfortable for their team inside— they're too loud, too rambunctious, so staying separated when they were confined like this was the most merciful act they could have on the school. 

It’s not like Ryuji didn’t have other people to sit with. Honestly, some of the guys on the team were definitely cool enough for him to hang around with solo, and Mishima had always offered a hand to him on the days he wasn’t feeling too hot. Sometimes he was content to just be by himself even, but the rain put a damper on his mood like no other. It’s easy to read on him: he stays firmly planted at his desk with his feet up on the empty chair across the aisle, bento in his lap and a scowl on his face. He’s unapproachable at best and an earful of biting remarks at worse, so maybe that’s why the smile from the transfer student sitting with Suzui a few aisles over and several desks forward throws him off so bad. 

Suzui’s clearly explaining… Ryuji, probably, to the guy, who seems unbothered by the eye contact they’ve suddenly made, even with Ryuji’s intense don’t-even-look-my-way aura. It’s somewhere between off-putting and intriguing, the way the transfer student refuses to lose their staring contest. Suzui seems to notice what’s happening between them, if her coy smile is any indicator. Not that Ryuji can notice when his eyes are glued to the stormy grey of the transfer student— _Kuroro? Kusuri?_ He’s not seen a color so intense before, hadn’t even known eyes could be that color. Their contest gets broken by one of the classroom doors opening, Ku-whatever looking away first. _Gotcha,_ Ryuji grins as a newly crowned staring contest champ, before a familiar hand is suddenly snaking its way into his lap to snag one of his pieces of melon. 

“Get your own, Takamaki,” Ryuji barks, smacking Takamaki’s hand away roughly enough for her to recoil, but gently enough for her to keep her hold on the piece.

“C’mon, we can share! Sakamaki lunches were always the best.” He can’t help the smile that flashes across his face at her teasing. Middle school was just the two of them sharing their hauls at lunch until Suzui came along and made it three. It fell back to two again when Ryuji left them for lunch with his team instead, and had stayed like that until this new guy, apparently. The idea of being replaced briefly bounces around in his head, even if he hadn’t touched that open spot in their group nearing on two years.

“You only like me for my melons.”

Takamaki laughs, though it doesn’t nearly sound as bubbly as it used to. “What can I say? Your mom did good.”

Ryuji laughs at that, mood shifting for the better. Takamaki could always manage that regardless of how badly Ryuji wanted to sulk. Maybe he shoulda taken that open slot back before it was too late. 

“Come sit with us,” Takamaki offers, snagging one more piece before half turning away from him, offering him the view of the transfer student and Suzui again. 

“So you can eat the rest of my food in the comfort of Suzui’s lap? No thanks.” Takamaki laughs again, this one definitely lighter, like he struck something he wasn’t really aware he was digging for. Huh.

“Fine, keep brooding over here. I bet Kurusu has something better than you anyway.” She walks off with that, practically jumping the other two for whatever food they have as soon as she’s in range.

 _Kurusu,_ he notes absently as he watches the transfer student’s glasses lift up his face with the rise of his cheeks, that smile from earlier returning as Takamaki fights Suzui for one of her jelly cups. 

“Grape’s my favorite, hands off!” he hears Suzui shout as she battles Takamaki for the little thing of plastic, too absorbed in the way Kurusu’s hair frames his face as he once again turns his head towards Ryuji, smile friendly and inviting.

Maybe his spot is still there, even if it’s been collecting dust all this time. Kurusu doesn’t seem like the type to steal anyway, even if his hands have been flipping his pen around the whole class with the proficiency of someone who definitely knows how to pick a lock. 

Maybe he can pick the one keeping Ryuji in place over here, despite the stormy eyes practically asking for his company.

Stormy eyes that match the sky behind him, actually.

Maybe Ryuji can appreciate a little bit of the gloom rain brings along.


End file.
